Oh man. Has a month gone by already? After making last month’s croquembouche, I was all prepared to whip this one up way ahead of schedule and then write the post for the end of the month. And this month’s Daring Baker’s Challenge looks awesome as well. But life got in the way (as it always does), and the mad dash to the finish line was pretty much in order (which clearly didn’t even work, as I am a day late). The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

The reality, which I should have realized ahead of time had I actually taken a look at my calendar, was that the challenge fell on a really busy weekend. Gay Pride weekend. Which means I would be running around the entire weekend, trying to go to the numerous parties, hanging out with the numerous friends, and generally trying to keep up without collapsing from all the fun we were having. Who has time to bake when there are drag queens to go and watch, A-list power lesbians throwing parties, and marches to watch and participate in? Well I squeezed it somehow!

The weekend started Saturday morning bright and early. We ran out the door to meet up with our friends Karen and Ben and their adorable child Gigi (who we babysat a week ago) at the Academy of Science. Our friends Felisa and Chris and their equally adorable child Lily also met up with us and we had a lovely time wandering through the indoor rainforest, marveling at the butterflies and the gorgeous birds and the tropical fish.

After dining at the Moss Room for lunch (probably one of the better museum café’s that I have ever been to – thanks go Charlie Phan of Slanted Door and Loretta Keller of COCO500 who run it) we ran off to the A-list power lesbian party in the castro. It was fantastic fun and met up with my new BFF Carolyn over at anti-bride. I’ll be doing a few guest food blog posts over there, so look out for those! She’s FABULOUS! Love. Her. She introduced us to the most amazing florist friend of her’s, Melissa of asimpleceremony who was recently was awarded the Top Wedding Flowers award from the SF Chronicle/SF Gate. Yay! I love meeting new amazing people!

After hanging out with them and meeting the fantastic people over at the party, we ended up missing our other party (oh the trials and tribulations of double booking!) and instead ran over to Dolores Park where we bumped into and hung out with my awesome friend (and probably the most talented graphic designer I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with) Sandrine and her gorgeous wife Olga. Then it was off to watch the dyke march! Dykes on Bikes rock!

Ah San Francisco. Never a dull moment here! We ran into our friends Jamie and Edo and got a chill drink with them, and then bolted over to the Castro for their annual notorious Pink Party. Basically a giant block party, we didn’t stay out that late, having had a long day, and knowing the next day was going to be equally long.

Sunday we woke up early again, and dashed down to the gathering area for the Pride Parade. We were marching with AJ’s college, as he was the GSA sponsor for the community college he works at. We planned on going to the early meet and greet with AJ’s chancellor and president but we kept on running into friends on the way and by the time we made it there, the party had broken up!

But no worries, we met up with everyone at the gathering area, where I was able to offer my leftover gluten free snickerdoodles to them all. They were much welcome, and not a single person figured out that they were gluten-free! In fact when AJ told them that they were gluten-free, after they ate them, they started asking me about them utterly surprised, and one women (who was trying to phase out gluten from her diet) totally ended up taking one and asking me about gluten-free baking. I ended up giving her my blog card so she could make the cookies herself.

We walked around admiring the awesome floats and costumes and when it came time to march the parade we were well received by the crowd. Because who doesn’t LOVE community college? It’s such a great bargain! I decided this year not to try to get the group to yell my chant “COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR THE GAY COMMUNITY! THE BEST EDUCATIONAL BANG FOR YOUR BUCK IN THIS ECONOMY!!!!” as no one seemed to take up my chant last year. I probably needed to come up with something more succinct and pithy, but I just couldn’t that early in the morning.

Of course the float ahead of us were a little more popular since they were passing out free stuff like t-shirts, buttons and balsa wood airplane flyers. I suggested to AJ that next year, we should pass out some to make us more popular as well…maybe free college credits? He wasn’t sure how legal that would be.

Then off to the pride booths and stages, where we ate street fair food (AJ loves meat on a stick) and hung out with friends, new and old. Exhausted, we headed over to our friend Peter and Grant’s place to chill out and decompress from the masses. They recently moved to a condo two blocks away from the celebration and there, we hung out a few friends on their communal deck drinking wine and sparkling juice and then eventually moving up to their condo on the 19th floor where we ate awesome pulled pork and spicy vegetarian tacos. What a great way to end pride!

Then finally I made it back home where I, in the last minute hour, pull together the daring baker’s challenge. Delicious and super rich, I think I overbaked the meringue as it was pretty crisp, not quite as billowing fluffy on the inside as I have had with other pavlovas. It was my very first time making baking meringue so I’ll know better next time. But the chocolate mascarpone mousse was SO fantastic, not very sweet, and intensely chocolatey. Because I didn’t have it in me to make the creme anglaise after the day (I know it’s not that hard, but give me a break, I was TIRED!), I went with an easier slightly sweetened mascarpone whipped cream, and layered the pavlova with fresh berries (boysenberries, tayberries, blackberries, olallieberries, and some strawberries). Decadent and delicious, AJ ate as much as we could before collapsing in a slightly sunburned mess.

Bring on next month’s challenge! Hopefully July won’t be nearly as insane (I can only cross my fingers). That said, I wouldn’t change my life for anything. Because as much as it’s ridiculously insane, AJ is awesome, my friends are awesome, and though not everything is perfect in my life, I’m slowly realizing that my life isn’t going to slow down. It’s just going to keep on being insane. So why not embrace the insanity and ride it high and proud?!?!

Happy June everyone, gay, straight or inbetween! May your life be as blessed as mine is right now!

Whilst baking this dessert, I listened to a sneak peek preview of the new Kylie Minogue album Aphrodite. Because nothing else seemed as appropriate for gay pride as listening to Kylie Minogue.

Chocolate Pavlova with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse and Fresh Berries

By Irvin Lin

The Pavlova is a classic dessert popular in New Zealand and Australia named after the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. At least that’s what Wikipedia had to say about the dessert (if it’s on the internet it must be true!). What I do know is that a chocolate pavlova isn’t necessary traditional but made me love the airy crunchy dessert all the more. If you want to make the meringue ahead of time, you can do that and store it in an airtight container for up to three days. You’ll notice I threw in a touch of cream of tartar while whipping the eggs. This helps stabilize the egg whites after they are whipped. Using room temperature eggs helps too whip the eggs up larger as well. Just make sure your bowl is clean without any oil in it (including oil from your fingers – no touching!). Finally I used superfine sugar because it dissolves faster in the egg whites. If you only have regular sugar, that’l work as well. This recipe is broken into three parts, but all of them are easy and can be done concurrently or consecutively.

Directions1. Preheat your oven to 200˚F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or a piece of parchment. Put egg whites, cream of tartar and salt in the mixing bowl of a standing mixer fitted and whip the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the superfine sugar until stiff peaks form, and the egg whites are glossy. You want the egg whites to be firm but still moist and glossy, you don’t want them dry.

2. Sift the confectionary sugar and the cocoa powder in to the egg whites and fold them in. It’ll take some arm work, but eventually the dry ingredients will fold in together. Fit a pastry bag with a large round or star tip and fill with the chocolate meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shape you want (I went with the classic spirals) and bake in the oven for 2 hours or so until dry and crisp.

3. Make the mousse Put 1/2 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan and warm up the cream until it starts to bubble on the sides (but don’t let it boil!). Remove immediately from the heat and using a whisk, mix the chopped chocolate into the cream until all the chocolate melts. Put aside. Place the mascarpone cheese, the remaining 1 cup cream, and the pinch of nutmeg into a mixing bowl and whip until the mascarpone loosens up. Add the Cointreau and whip until on medium- low speed until soft peaks form. Don’t over beat as the mascarpone cheese will break. Take the chocolate mixture and fold it into the mascarpone whipped cream gently until fully incorporated.

4. Make the whipped cream by first sifting the powdered sugar into the heavy cream and mix until it is dissolved. Add the mascarpone cheese and the cream into a mixing bowl and whip until thickened but before peaks form.

5. Assemble the dessert by spooning the mousse in a pastry bag fitted with a large star or round tip. Place one of the chocolate meringues on a plate and pipe some mousse onto it in a fancy swirl. Place some berries onto the mousse and press down so they don’t slide off. Drizzle some of the thickened mascarpone cream onto the berries. Place another chocolate meringue on top of the berries and repeat with the mousse and berries. Stack as high as you want (I did three levels, but I probably should have stopped at two!) and then dust the top of the dessert with some confectioner’s sugar to make it even prettier. Add the whipped cream on top and stand back and admire your dessert. Then dig in!

>Your first photograph says it all rich, multi-layered and so so decadent. What a fabulous looking dessert and it is so nice you posted pictures of the weekend entertainment it looks like a lot of fun, in Sydney we have the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in March which is huge and most of the city turns out for it. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

>The chocolate pavlova looks delicious!!! Next time, I will have to time our outing or get together sometime AFTER you've met the monthly challenge so that we can have a taste. Thanks for coming out with us to the Academy of Sciences – we had a great time!

What a super exciting weekend! And your pavlova looks divine. I've had a REALLY rough time making deadline to post DB challenges. So I know what you mean, and I can't believe you made it with all the happenings!! Sadly I didn't make it this month either! I'm wondering if I'm still in since I remember reading when I signed up that you can only miss 2 out of 12. I think this is the 3rd one I've missed….

Oh mu goodness, I saw your pavlova in the DK forum and was blown away by how gorgeous it is! It conjures up images of a sweet Eiffel Tower of meringue, mousse and fruit. Simply perfection!! Also..love ALL the photos..such happiness 🙂

@chef_d & Sara. The berries really help cut the richness of the chocolate on chocolate! Thanks!

@Nachiketa. Oh man. I NEVER party either! It's been a crazy month. I was hoping July would be more mellow, but probably not… Hope the tips help you next time!

@Audax. Careful! I might take you up on that offer! We've had grandiose plans to visit Australia FOREVER but we just haven't made it there yet. One of these days…

@Sirius73. The mousse was so creamy and yummy! I'm totally going to use the recipe next time for something. Not sure what yet, but it's a keeper!

@Karen. Ha! It was SO crazy that weekend! I'm glad we were able to hang out though! I'll let you know about the next challenge!

@Sweetdiscovery. Quick go run to the forum and post on their "can't participate this month" thread! I think you can miss up to four per year. But you have to post on there that you are missing a challenge or they'll just assume you lost interest and pull you off the blogroll.

And I can't believe I pulled it off either!

@Lisa Michelle Thank you so much! Yours looked amazing so that's high praise indeed! The weekend was pure insanity but also pure happiness. Thank goodness I'm going on vacation in a couple of days so I can rest up from it all!

Yours looks so much better than all the pavlovas I had years ago in NZ! Haven't thought about them much since then, but you're making me want one (as long as it can be chocolate, that is). And all those berries! I don't even know what tayberries and olallieberries are . . . Sounds like you had an awesome, whirlwind weekend. Hope your vacation leaves you well-rested!

That dessert and your fantastic, not-allowed-on-that-one-business-trip sweater made it hard for me to give the meat of the post the attention it deserves, but it looks like a truly wonderful weekend, with good weather to boot.

Unrelated, my RSS feed for this site is just above the one for yours. I clicked that one accidentally, and was very confused for a while.

Love your Community College Chant. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm sure if you guys gave out BAKED GOODS during the parade, that'd be WAY more popular than balsa wood airplanes. Come to community college, we have cookies.

I want to eat this pavlova. If you don't come back to LA ASAP I might have to make it myself.

@Tara Barker. Ollalieberries are a cross between loganberry (a cross between raspberry and blackberry) and youngberry (a cross between blackberry and dewberry). They are AWESOME. I love them, but their season is SUPER short. Like 3 weeks short. I should have bought more and froze them or made them into jam. ah regret.

Tayberries are new to me actually. I had never heard of the, but they apparently are a cross between blackberry and a raspberry. But sweeter than a loganberry (which is the same cross). They apparently are super hard to cultivate so that's why you probably have never heard of them. I was lucky to stumble upon them at the farmer's market.

And, oh man. My vacation is quickly (too quickly) coming to an end…. I'm eating as much mango and pineapple as I can. Strangely I can't find guava on this island AT ALL. The grocery stores all say that there is no demand for it because it's too seedy. How sad!

@Ben. Energy. What energy? I'm exhausted!

@Martha. Thanks for the sweater comment! It was "Pink Saturday" which is the Saturday before pride, where everyone parties in the Castro. I decided to wear the PINKEST thing I had. All the lesbians loved me.

Also. I love that I was under that site. One of these days, I'll write a soccer post, just to confuse you. Except, I know nothing about soccer players. So it'll be equally confusing to me.

@Rita. Hmmm. but I imagine if I were giving out baked goods, people would just assume that they were "special" baked goods. which I've never made before.

Also, you should just come up here and visit. I'll make the pavlova for you. I have 30+ egg whites in the freezer ready to be used in some where or fashion. It's a little scary.

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Hey there! Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm Irvin Lin, an IACP-Award winning photographer, award winning baker, award winning graphic designer, storyteller, recipe developer, writer and average joe bon vivant. Hilarity often ensues when I'm involved. I currently reside in San Francisco in the neighborhood people have recently taken to calling "The Gastro" - a block from Dolores Park and right near Tartine Bakery, Bi Rite Market & Creamery, and Delfina.

I can also be found at various food events around the city. Feel free to contact me by clicking on that picture of me up above or emailing me eatthelove {at} gmail {dot} com.

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